A magnitude 7.2 earthquake devastated the city of Kobe, Japan; more than 6,000 people were killed.

1997

A court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country's history.

1998

President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to testify as a defendant in a criminal or civil suit when he answered questions from lawyers for Paula Jones, who had accused Clinton of sexual harassment.

2001

Faced with an electricity crisis, California used rolling blackouts to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of people.